Debt Counselling

Find out more about how debt counselling works and which debts you can use it for. Then have a one on one free consultation with one of our debt counsellors about how debt counselling is the best way to pay off or clear your debt.

What is Debt Counselling?

Debt counselling is a formal legal debt relief measure that was introduced to assist over-indebted consumers through the debt review or debt counselling process in terms of Section 86 of the National Credit Act (NCA) 34 of 2005. Debt counselling was introduced to assist consumers with high debt levels to resolve their debt problems. Listen closely, this is mainly because the average household debt to disposable income ratio in South Africa is about 72%, which is amongst the highest in the world. This means that, on average, 72% of the monthly take-home pay that South African households earn goes towards paying the debt.

why was Debt Counselling introduced?

Get the facts before you apply for debt counselling. Here are the main reasons why the debt counselling solution was introduced:

• To assist over-indebted consumers. A consumer is over-indebted if they cannot afford to meet all their monthly debt commitments.
• To identify and profile cases of reckless lending with the aim to get the cases suspended.

What are the benefits of debt counselling?

I am glad you asked. You improve your money habits. This is arguably the most important benefit that debt counselling offers which is changing your habits with money. When you are under debt counselling, your behaviour with money changes as you learn to spend less and pay cash for purchases. You learn to live within your means. Before you know it you are debt-free.

The fact that debt counselling is premised on one not being able to borrow means that its focus is solely on debt elimination. Once you are debt-free you can start building wealth by playing more in the savings and investment field. This is where you want to be if you want to build wealth and retire with dignity.

TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR FINANCES IN 4 EASY STEPS

How long will debt counselling last?

In general, it takes 3-5 years for one to exit the debt relief plan. However,  it depends on a number of factors and chief among them is how much debt do you have and how much you are prepared to pay on a monthly basis to service your debt. Debt counselling is however flexible in that if you are committed to paying more you can finish paying debt fast and exit.

What do l mean by this? I am glad you asked. Listen closely, at Debt Sage we do not hold back any of our clients. Should you run into some money i.e. inheritance from the rich aunt and you want to pay off all your accounts and be off debt review, yes you can.

They are no penalties whatsoever for paying off your debt fast. In fact at Debt Sage as debt counselling specialists, we encourage our clients to be aggressive in paying off their debt so that they can start a new journey of savings, investments and building wealth. No matter what you believed when you took out your loans, now it’s time to get serious about getting rid of them. Yes, it's possible and we have helped many realise their dreams ​​​​click here to read what our clients say.

Do you need debt counselling?

The people that let debts build up before they seek advice often find:

• their cards are maxed out
• things have spiralled out of control
• no one else will lend to them, and
• it takes much longer to pay back what they owe

Our certified debt counsellors will

• never judge you or make you feel bad about your situation;
• always be happy to talk to you, however big or small your problem might be;
• find ways to manage your debts even if you think you have no spare money; and
• suggest ways to deal with debts that you might not know about.

At the end of the debt counselling session, you will feel good knowing that there are options available and that you are not alone.